Owen, thanks for the reply. I had the good fortune to attend one of their shows at the Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas back in the early 60's. A truly great pair of musicians and American citizens. Thanks again.
I used to watch the show on Channel 3 out of Harisonburg/Staunton during the 50's. Had a rotor tenna and had to turn the antenna to receive the station from Manassas, VA. I remember this tune and have the Mono LP album as well as most of the others. Back then, that was as Hi-Fi as you could get, and you played it with two speakers. That was stereo wanabee. Watched Ronnie grow up on that station with "Someone left another young'un at our house" What memories.
Channel 3 in Harrisonburg also broadcast the Saturday Night Barndance at 7:00 PM, live from the Rollerland Skating Rink in Verona (Augusta County), Virginia. Don Reno and Red Smiley were the keynote act, but other regionally well-known talent--such as Buddy Starcher--also made the rounds on the show. My Granddad wouldn't miss an episode.
Yep I agree about today's so-called bluegrass guitar pickers, unless they are Tony Rice or Doc Watson, they usually suck...they clutter up the sound with frantic chicken-scratching guitar strumming. I think they are jealous of the banjo and refuse to play the role of 'rhythm' guitar! I'm glad I learned how to play like Carter Stanley and Lester Flatt...not to mention Smiley, Maybelle Carter, Robert Johnson and other thumb and fingerpickers!
they killed those martians in MARS ATTACKS by playing them grannies´ awful old country music, but if they ha played them THIS song, the martians would have become a befriended race !
I was wondering if someone could help me im trying to find the song eastbound freight train by reno and smiley ive looked everywhere and cant seem to find if you know of anyone that could help i would be gratefull
check out the slide that Reno does on 1:54, most could only pick or sing not do both at the same time. Olehoundog you are right, these guitar players today could learn a whole lot from Red's rhythm. Reno and Smiley were the real deal!
@bluebodensea I grew up in Roanoke VA listenin to Don and Red on the "Top of the Mornin Show" with Irvin Sharp. I remember my mama and daddy pronoucing the fiddle player as Mack McGahee. Not sure if that is the correct spelling - or pronounciation... LOL. Love this music - Sweden is playing better bluegrass than the USA now. Search for the Long Gone smiles Band. They do a pretty good job!
I learned to play the D run from listening to Red Smiley records when I was a kid. I used to listen to them on the Old Dominion Barn Dance on Saturday nights on WRVA radio broadcasting from Richmond Va. when I was growing up inToronto during the middle and late 50's.
I wish all these new-grass so-called rhythm guitar players would watch this video. Notice what a full sound Red gets and where he hits the strings-right inside the sound hole. All the new-grass guys strum right up against the bridge and get a thin and tinny sound. Good rhythm guitar playing is a lost art in bluegrass music. They need to watch the videos of Red, Carter, Lester etc. Thank you Red!!
@olehoundog1 - I agree, the art of coaxing different sounds from an acoustic is dying. I find that you need to play near the neck for more bass (atleast on my D18) when you are at the chorus or play over the sound hole for verse. Not exact rules, but rules of thumb. Speaking of thumb......... i think I am the only person left that picks bluegrass using and thumb and finger pick. Thats another lost art. Maybe not too lost, since I am only 32, but its getting there.
A thumb-picking bluegrass picker here - been thumb picking about 48 years - hope you enjoy - let me know... - search "me and martha" - in YouTube = look for Handsome Molly = A thumb-picking bluegrass picker here - been thumb picking about 48 years - hope you enjoy - let me know... if this link doesn't work - search "me and martha" - in YouTube = it's to Handsome Molly = d
@olehoundog1 I also agree. Thing is, all these modern pickers are just waiting til they get their chance at the lead. They don't really care about the rhythm at all--just "when's it my turn?"-- all about the ego, not the music. And what's so bad is, they can't pick except by anchoring on the bridge.
@olehoundog1 You are so right when you say that! the problem is that everybody wants to learn how to pick the fire out of it without learning a good rythym hand.
Yes, my mom & I think Mac Magaha (fiddler) needs to cheer up ! ! ! Thanks for the post. They do an even better job on "Love Please Come Home" from the same era. It is so BLUEGRASSY !!!
Actually Red had pretty bad teeth in the early 50's. You can see them in some of the early Reno and Smiley pics. He had dentures (obviously) by this point in 1957. It's funny because you can see him trying to keep them from falling out in the video. I guess those were the best teeth money could buy in 1957!
that little fadeaway of Eddie Stubbs freaks me out because I think for a split second that its the original announcer. And I start getting scared because I feel like its like a scence from a movie from the 70's called Phantasm.
Reno and Smiley were my favorite bluegrass singers. Such great harmony. Don Reno was also an authentic American hero. He put his music career on hold and served with Merrill's Marauders during World War 2
I wasnt around in 1957, It would be a decade beefore I was born, and even I know that the times when i grew up were better in general than the shithole we live in now. Leaving your house unlocked, keys in the ignition, open doors at the schools, and get this, ALL the kids ran the WHOLE town because someone was ALWAYS looking out for us because we ALL knew the other families in town. We will never have any of that again!
Red must have used a buffer and gloss white paint on his teeth. What a smile! I met Don a few times over the years. What a great guy. Did y'all know he was with Merril's Marauders in WW2? He was a gutsy hero on top of everthing else. Red was wounded and lost a lung (Burma?) in the same war.
Wow - I'm from Australia, where Bluegrass is not so big, so for me to be able to see some of my heroes....thanks a million. I could spend hours on this channel!! "Talk of the Town"....love it!
America has given the world so much in thway of music. What a country!
This song is an all time favorite and Don and Red have always been wonderful singers and musicians. I first heard this song by the Wilburn Brothers" on their TV show - don't know why I heard them sing it first. Even tho I had seen pictures of Don and Red this is the first time I've seen them "in person". I also like their "Ashes of Love" also done so well years ago by Johnny and Jack. This is a great video - thanks so much for it. - Paula
Red Smiley was my father's first cousin. I was five years old when this was performed, and he died before I could ever meet him .Thank you for uploading it so I could see him!
Great clip. I've always been a blue grass fan and love listening to th pioneers of the field of wich Reno and Smiley are truly among tem. Isn't that a young Mac Mcgayhey of Porter Wagner fame on fiddle?
watch & listen for Mac Magaha's 3 triple stops towards the end of the song-1 of the things that made this vid version a tad better than the original release!
I agree. Of course, Reno and Smiley, for several years, didn't use their own band during recording sessions. They were, from what I can tell, forced to use studio musicians, as most were in that day. That was back when the artists didn't have very many rights to the record companies, not that they have that many now...
I listened to this group sing this song on TV channel 7 from Roanoke Virginia in the 50s before I went to school. Brings back a lot of good memories. Grady Cole
My mother was raised in Turbeville. My uncle raised tobacco in Halifax not far from South Boston. I used to love to visit there. It was so rural, then. Kind of felt like you were going back to the 1800's.
The bass player, is that John Palmer? Later in the Shenandoah Cut Ups?
6907lankershim 3 weeks ago
Owen, thanks for the reply. I had the good fortune to attend one of their shows at the Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas back in the early 60's. A truly great pair of musicians and American citizens. Thanks again.
BirdogL19 3 months ago
Mack Mc Gaha (fiddle) later played with the Porter Gagner show.
TheMemphisSlim 5 months ago
Mac Magaha - the OG of pelvic thrusting. Great song.
asbarg01 6 months ago
I used to watch the show on Channel 3 out of Harisonburg/Staunton during the 50's. Had a rotor tenna and had to turn the antenna to receive the station from Manassas, VA. I remember this tune and have the Mono LP album as well as most of the others. Back then, that was as Hi-Fi as you could get, and you played it with two speakers. That was stereo wanabee. Watched Ronnie grow up on that station with "Someone left another young'un at our house" What memories.
BirdogL19 9 months ago
@BirdogL19
Channel 3 in Harrisonburg also broadcast the Saturday Night Barndance at 7:00 PM, live from the Rollerland Skating Rink in Verona (Augusta County), Virginia. Don Reno and Red Smiley were the keynote act, but other regionally well-known talent--such as Buddy Starcher--also made the rounds on the show. My Granddad wouldn't miss an episode.
owengl 3 months ago
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depoyd 1 year ago
Comment removed
depoyd 1 year ago
The fiddle player is Mack Mc Gaha from Honea Path South Carolina, My second cousin.
kukaburr 1 year ago
Yep I agree about today's so-called bluegrass guitar pickers, unless they are Tony Rice or Doc Watson, they usually suck...they clutter up the sound with frantic chicken-scratching guitar strumming. I think they are jealous of the banjo and refuse to play the role of 'rhythm' guitar! I'm glad I learned how to play like Carter Stanley and Lester Flatt...not to mention Smiley, Maybelle Carter, Robert Johnson and other thumb and fingerpickers!
Freakfolker 1 year ago 5
Can't help noticing the unusual headstock on his banjo-maybe it's just the reflection of the light,anyone know what make it is?
folcker 1 year ago
Red Smiley, King of the Thunder Run
mandokilla 1 year ago
they killed those martians in MARS ATTACKS by playing them grannies´ awful old country music, but if they ha played them THIS song, the martians would have become a befriended race !
buchananstreet 1 year ago
I was wondering if someone could help me im trying to find the song eastbound freight train by reno and smiley ive looked everywhere and cant seem to find if you know of anyone that could help i would be gratefull
SuperHotmama30 1 year ago
This fiddle player is GREAT! Notice how EVERYONE stays away from him when he's playin', bet they've been stabbed a few times, LOL.
rrss2lwb 1 year ago
check out the slide that Reno does on 1:54, most could only pick or sing not do both at the same time. Olehoundog you are right, these guitar players today could learn a whole lot from Red's rhythm. Reno and Smiley were the real deal!
5strRJB 1 year ago
Would the fiddle player by any chance be Mac McCgee. May have mispelled his last name. Sure love real Bluegrass, keep up the good work.
bluebodensea 1 year ago
@bluebodensea I grew up in Roanoke VA listenin to Don and Red on the "Top of the Mornin Show" with Irvin Sharp. I remember my mama and daddy pronoucing the fiddle player as Mack McGahee. Not sure if that is the correct spelling - or pronounciation... LOL. Love this music - Sweden is playing better bluegrass than the USA now. Search for the Long Gone smiles Band. They do a pretty good job!
kayteekayful 1 year ago
I learned to play the D run from listening to Red Smiley records when I was a kid. I used to listen to them on the Old Dominion Barn Dance on Saturday nights on WRVA radio broadcasting from Richmond Va. when I was growing up inToronto during the middle and late 50's.
Ken, Toronto
dreadnought45 1 year ago
Greeeattt!!! Love it!!!
spyweed1111 1 year ago
I wish all these new-grass so-called rhythm guitar players would watch this video. Notice what a full sound Red gets and where he hits the strings-right inside the sound hole. All the new-grass guys strum right up against the bridge and get a thin and tinny sound. Good rhythm guitar playing is a lost art in bluegrass music. They need to watch the videos of Red, Carter, Lester etc. Thank you Red!!
olehoundog1 2 years ago 18
I couldn't agree more. Well said. I'd rather play with an old school bluegrass rhythm player than some "Tony Rice wanna be" any day.
renopicker 2 years ago 8
Remember Adam from ETSU-I am his uncle-have met you and played with you one time before he left.
olehoundog1 2 years ago
@olehoundog1 I couldn't agree more, today its all about noise and hats down over the eyes, half of them can't tune their own guitars
46r11 1 year ago
@olehoundog1 - I agree, the art of coaxing different sounds from an acoustic is dying. I find that you need to play near the neck for more bass (atleast on my D18) when you are at the chorus or play over the sound hole for verse. Not exact rules, but rules of thumb. Speaking of thumb......... i think I am the only person left that picks bluegrass using and thumb and finger pick. Thats another lost art. Maybe not too lost, since I am only 32, but its getting there.
williebrown01 1 year ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
A thumb-picking bluegrass picker here - been thumb picking about 48 years - hope you enjoy - let me know... - search "me and martha" - in YouTube = look for Handsome Molly = A thumb-picking bluegrass picker here - been thumb picking about 48 years - hope you enjoy - let me know... if this link doesn't work - search "me and martha" - in YouTube = it's to Handsome Molly = d
depoyd 1 year ago
Comment removed
Randko23 9 months ago
@olehoundog1 I also agree. Thing is, all these modern pickers are just waiting til they get their chance at the lead. They don't really care about the rhythm at all--just "when's it my turn?"-- all about the ego, not the music. And what's so bad is, they can't pick except by anchoring on the bridge.
Randko23 9 months ago 2
@olehoundog1 You are so right when you say that! the problem is that everybody wants to learn how to pick the fire out of it without learning a good rythym hand.
karentrevor 7 months ago
Don Reno & Red Smiley have always been one of my favorite duets. The other being The Louvin Brothers. No one can come up to their standards.
billconley32 2 years ago
Yes, my mom & I think Mac Magaha (fiddler) needs to cheer up ! ! ! Thanks for the post. They do an even better job on "Love Please Come Home" from the same era. It is so BLUEGRASSY !!!
CARROLLCTYDOBROGIRL 2 years ago
Love it, that fiddle player is having way too much fun, what kind of toothpaste does the guitar use, never seen whiter teeth.
rskurow 2 years ago 4
Actually Red had pretty bad teeth in the early 50's. You can see them in some of the early Reno and Smiley pics. He had dentures (obviously) by this point in 1957. It's funny because you can see him trying to keep them from falling out in the video. I guess those were the best teeth money could buy in 1957!
renopicker 2 years ago
Thank you so much for that interesting info. I am a fiddler and really enjoyed watching this post. Thanks again.
rskurow 2 years ago
guitar player is red smiley
andrealuvshouse 2 years ago
Thanks andrealuvshouse. I love these guys, so pure, natural and fun.
rskurow 2 years ago
@rskurow "You'll wonder where the yellow went,
When you brush your teeth with Pep-so-dent"
Remember that old commercial jingle?
TruegrassBoy 10 months ago
that little fadeaway of Eddie Stubbs freaks me out because I think for a split second that its the original announcer. And I start getting scared because I feel like its like a scence from a movie from the 70's called Phantasm.
mossfamilyadventure 2 years ago
I saw them play about 50 years ago, 1959 or 1960 at Mouth of Seneca, West Virginia. One of my all-time favorite bluegrass bands.
phrakanong 2 years ago 2
Oh Yeah!
TheGregWoodBand 2 years ago
That's a very young Mac Magaha on fiddle. He must have still be a teenager in 1957.
mrfiddleman 2 years ago 3
Good eyes on that spot !!! I thought that was Magaha.
BreathDoctor 2 years ago
Mack was born in 1929, he was 28 or so in this film. He died of pneumonia Aug 15th of 2003 at the age of 74 in Nashille Veterans Hospital.
edmunk 2 years ago
Reno and Smiley were my favorite bluegrass singers. Such great harmony. Don Reno was also an authentic American hero. He put his music career on hold and served with Merrill's Marauders during World War 2
Ichabod1031 2 years ago 4
YOU CAN SANG ALONG WITH IT !!!
tonydingler 2 years ago
Reno and Smiley are my favorite Bluegrass band. They were always good, and had the best banjo player ever.
gospelmusiclover48 3 years ago 3
sparkys got a point . maybe now we're more technologically advanced but the quality of the people and the mind set is alot worse.
apmoro 3 years ago 8
America was so much better back then; what a shithole we live in now.
sparkywundermutt1 3 years ago 3
I wasnt around in 1957, It would be a decade beefore I was born, and even I know that the times when i grew up were better in general than the shithole we live in now. Leaving your house unlocked, keys in the ignition, open doors at the schools, and get this, ALL the kids ran the WHOLE town because someone was ALWAYS looking out for us because we ALL knew the other families in town. We will never have any of that again!
Rcksaltnnails 2 years ago 4
Im sure the one him and earl traded is near by somewhere. I've played for red smilies daughter
bigmrclean 3 years ago
Looks like Don was playing an RB-250, judging from the inlay pattern.
mandolinman2006 3 years ago
Red must have used a buffer and gloss white paint on his teeth. What a smile! I met Don a few times over the years. What a great guy. Did y'all know he was with Merril's Marauders in WW2? He was a gutsy hero on top of everthing else. Red was wounded and lost a lung (Burma?) in the same war.
hillbillystill 3 years ago
I believe that was Top of the Morning! Great old one! Thanks for posting it.
bhs0839 3 years ago
Is that Eddie Stubbs at the start?
carteru93 3 years ago 4
Yep, that's him!
Hobobill69 3 years ago
This footage looks like it is from the "Top of The Mornin'" show on WDBJ Roanoke, Va.
bottlecap11111 3 years ago 2
Wow - I'm from Australia, where Bluegrass is not so big, so for me to be able to see some of my heroes....thanks a million. I could spend hours on this channel!! "Talk of the Town"....love it!
America has given the world so much in thway of music. What a country!
ChomFa 3 years ago 4
This song is an all time favorite and Don and Red have always been wonderful singers and musicians. I first heard this song by the Wilburn Brothers" on their TV show - don't know why I heard them sing it first. Even tho I had seen pictures of Don and Red this is the first time I've seen them "in person". I also like their "Ashes of Love" also done so well years ago by Johnny and Jack. This is a great video - thanks so much for it. - Paula
PaulinaRena 3 years ago 2
It is great, but scared me...I thought that Fiddler was gonna stick his bow in Smileys eye....
BreathDoctor 3 years ago 2
It is so great to get to see this!
jvbanjo5 3 years ago 3
Of major bluegrass musical history significance. And my favorite reno tune.
buffalobanjoe 3 years ago
Red Smiley was my father's first cousin. I was five years old when this was performed, and he died before I could ever meet him .Thank you for uploading it so I could see him!
diane5254 3 years ago
Great clip. I've always been a blue grass fan and love listening to th pioneers of the field of wich Reno and Smiley are truly among tem. Isn't that a young Mac Mcgayhey of Porter Wagner fame on fiddle?
froghopper022 3 years ago 2
Yes, that's Mac, one and the same.
taturkey 3 years ago
Thankyou Marcu for posting me the video,One that would be impossible to find had you not sent it to me. It was a great.
geena6 3 years ago
neat:) hugs shelly
bandbsmom 3 years ago
This is some very good old "stuff". Thanks for posting and thank you,Marcus for sending me the video.Shirley 5*****'s
broncose1 3 years ago
Wonderful video. 5 stars and thank you. Oh yes, you can tell which one is Smiley by looking, can't you?
oldcountrytunes 3 years ago 2
never noticed that before.
jefferyb304 3 years ago
CHUBBEH!!!
ray8up 3 years ago
O M G thank you for saving this!
ray8up 3 years ago
great video...thanks for posting them...this is music
simonne234 4 years ago
I am so grateful to those who, like you, post these fine old music videos. Thanks! I love reno and Smiley and hope to see more of them online!
catherineyronwode 4 years ago 2
watch & listen for Mac Magaha's 3 triple stops towards the end of the song-1 of the things that made this vid version a tad better than the original release!
Donkey9900 4 years ago 2
I agree. Of course, Reno and Smiley, for several years, didn't use their own band during recording sessions. They were, from what I can tell, forced to use studio musicians, as most were in that day. That was back when the artists didn't have very many rights to the record companies, not that they have that many now...
mandolinman2006 4 years ago
absolutely wonderful
mand0play 4 years ago
Sounds just as good then as it does to this very day. Gr8 Stuff.
GorillaGarbageArt07 5 years ago
This tune is called: The Talk Of The Town
crownvicky 5 years ago
I listened to this group sing this song on TV channel 7 from Roanoke Virginia in the 50s before I went to school. Brings back a lot of good memories. Grady Cole
gpcole 5 years ago
Thats great! Its always nice to hear and see things from the past that bring up good memories.
rld1210 5 years ago
Are you from south boston ? halifax county
ncmedic57 4 years ago
No, I'm from North Carolina, and a bluegrass lover from birth.
gpcole 4 years ago
My mother was raised in Turbeville. My uncle raised tobacco in Halifax not far from South Boston. I used to love to visit there. It was so rural, then. Kind of felt like you were going back to the 1800's.
MKFaizi 4 years ago
Great video quality for this era. Thanks.
banjobilly32 5 years ago
great!
BanjoBoyMatt 5 years ago